Kristen Eckert took over as B.F. Day Elementary’s interim principal last year in the wake of unexpected staff departures.
This spring the district made her interim title permanent.
Eckert’s path to education and B.F. Day started across the sound in Gig Harbor. She grew up there, and her mother taught first and second grade.
“My niece goes to that school now, and her first classroom was the one my mom taught in,” Eckert said. “It’s kind of that nice, small-world community down there.”
From there, Eckert went to Tacoma Community College and then Western Washington University, where she studied theater and literature. After graduating, she spent a season touring the country with a Montana Repertory Theater production of “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
She came back to earn a graduate degree in teaching from The Evergreen State College, and an administrative degree at the University of Washington, and taught middle school for 11 years. Eckert was an assistant principal for many years after that, and it was a job she loved and never expected to leave.
That changed last June when the school district called about an unexpected principal opening at B.F. Day, and asked if she’d be interested. Eckert had some familiarity with the building through a former colleague and friend who’d worked there as assistant principal; she didn’t need time to decide.
Eckert arrived at a school in the middle of high turnover: B.F. Day’s previous principal and counselor both left abruptly, and the school lost teachers tied to declining enrollment. Fremont Neighbor reported on the B.F. Day PTSA’s criticism of the district for poor communication about the departures.
“It was a hard year,” Eckert said of her first year in the building.
Enrollment has since leveled off and is running slightly ahead of the district’s spring projections. Welcome news, Eckert said, though it comes with some large class sizes this year.
“We also have amazing teachers, and they can handle it,” she said. “Teachers are carrying more to try to keep the same opportunities available for our kids.”
To ease the load, B.F. Day’s librarian and reading interventionist is now teaching a third section of kindergarten reading and writing as part of her reading intervention role. This helps shrink those classes from the mid-20s down to 17 students during reading and writing time.
“It just makes a difference and lets those teachers give more individualized attention in that really pivotal time,” Eckert said.
A grant from the school’s PTSA – large enough that it required Seattle School Board approval, since it pushed past the district’s cap on single-donor contributions – is also funding tutors who can help in the larger sized classrooms. It also gives teachers more time to plan lessons, which includes a new English Language Arts curriculum.
Eckert was direct about how much of that depends on fundraising rather than district funding. “The PTSA has been essential. It shouldn’t have to be that way,” she said.
B.F. Day has been a part of the Fremont community for over a century. It is the oldest continuously operating public school in the Seattle school district.
Eckert said that history surfaces in small ways and that “all roads seem to come back to B.F. Day.” Her best friend from college and a fellow administrator she greatly admires, both attended B.F. Day. A family friend of her mother’s was a student teacher there 50 years ago.
“The small world that comes back to B.F. Day is just fantastic,” she said. “So it’s one of those things I’m really proud of. I feel like it’s important to hold and carry that mantle to nurture and sustain the things that have made this community so great for so long.”
She pointed to long-standing traditions, which includes Village Day, a spring event where students run their own small businesses out of each classroom, and the school’s K-5 “Dragon Den” mixed-age mentorship groups.
When Eckert witnessed her first Village Day, she enjoyed watching families return to the school, parents connecting with teachers, children connecting with their previous teachers, and kids who’ve left B.F. Day connecting with each other after ending up at different high schools.
“It really is the family school,” she said, which is B.F. Day Elementary’s nickname.
Fremont families have plenty of school options, such as other neighborhood schools, K-8s, Highly Capable pathways, and private schools. Eckert’s pitch for B.F. Day leans on its identity as a neighborhood school built around inclusive, general-education classrooms. For families curious about enrolling, the PTSA hosts community tours in January.
Neighbors without kids in the building can also reach out to the school office about helping out during lunch and recess.
Disclosure: Fremont Neighbor editor Aly Teeter’s two children attended B.F. Day Elementary.
Correction: This article originally misstated the institution where Eckert earned her master’s in teaching. It was The Evergreen State College, not the University of Washington.
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